Sorry, another XIV rant... but this is getting over the top.
Apparently there's a version of Windower, a popular set of extensions for Final Fantasy XI, that is now available for XIV. The sad thing is, all it does is fix things that shouldn't be there in the first place: Windower XIV allows hardware mouse support, allows you to alt-tab in fullscreen mode without crashing the game, keeps it from crashing when you come up against something UAC related, and makes the game run faster than it does on it's own.
Seriously? Seriously?! Come on, Square, your game hasn't even launched yet and already people are fixing things that should've been fixed long before the final stage of the beta (and I wouldn't be shocked if these things aren't fixed by the time the game officially releases). Worse yet, if it's like XI, they'll punish you (through suspensions or bans) for using any sort of third party programs.
Only in Square's MMO world are burns and powerleveling allowed, things typically illegal in an MMO, and the most innocuous of third party applications a bannable offense. The fatigue system is supposed to cater to casuals, but XIV requires high specs to run, and tools that make the game more palatable aren't allowed. WoW, on the other hand, by having lower requirements and allowing third party tools at the users discretion, is hugely popular with casuals, telling us either SE doesn't understand the fanbase it's aiming for, or the whole "catering to casuals" is just an excuse to keep you from leveling too quick for whatever reason, buying themselves endgame time or just trying to keep you around longer.
I've heard Square Enix referred to as lovable "mad professors," trying to be "innovative," but is it possible maybe they're a massive corporation who could care less about the little guy when they know their legions of fans will clean up and run interference for them? Fanboys can't even entertain the notion SE is just as shady as, say, Microsoft, and I'm sure simply comparing SE to MS would set some of them into a raaaage, hah hah.
I'm not knocking FFXIV. I'm stoked for it, I really am. I've sank money into a video card upgrade as well as the Limited Edition. But it's inexcusable the way SE has been handling itself lately, and it's perfectly okay for us to admit that. We don't have to blindly defend every single one of their actions, to pass off every flaw as intentional and brilliant, to be fans. If we do, then we've just become drones.
Showing posts with label final fantasy xiv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label final fantasy xiv. Show all posts
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Adventures in FFXIV Graphical Settings (Rambling)
What I'd like to do is run Final Fantasy XIV at 1080p Windowed mode with close to the highest settings, like I do with XI. The problem I have is both financial (can't just slap in a $600 card, unfortunately) and XIV's relative instability at this stage.
My initial attempts were windowed at 1080p. Starting off with a Radeon HD 5770 1 GB GDDR5, I was struggling at the highest settings, scoring a frame rate between high single digits and into the mid teens at best. The only way I could near a solid 30 frames per second was to put all the settings on the lowest. Even going fullscreen didn't seem to add more than a few FPS in total, although dropping to 720p earned several more digits.
I threw in a second 5770, only to learn CrossFire was not officially supported. This quick little fix from Voices of the Twelve was a significant help. At 1080p, fullscreen, with settings on almost the max (Ambient Occlusion and Multisampling turned off), I was rocking an FPS mostly in the high twenties up to the early forties.
I turned CrossFire off just to go back and compare, and with the same settings but in windowed mode I was pushing close to a constant 30fps in most areas, only dropped into the low twenties near camp.
Okay, now I'm just confused, because it was absolutely not running that well on one card when I first gave XIV a whirl several days ago. I'm not sure if I just did something without realizing it, or if it's because there seems to be significantly less people on now after the initial rush, or because SE made some genuine improvements over the past few days worth of updates. Heck, it might be a combination of the three, but I'm not complaining! Would be useful to know, though!
On a side note, it turns out my second 5770 has a core clock speed of 900Mhz, faster by 50 than my other one, so I need to get back inside the computer and swap them so the primary is the faster one. Whoops, guess I need to pay more attention to that sort of thing!
Issues I'd like to see addressed:
Stability. You can't tab out of fullscreen, or even open a window that requires Administrator permission if you're in windowed mode, without killing the game. XI's an old game, it's somewhat understandable. But Phantasy Star Universe came out in '06, and by then it was already inexcusable. Now we're in 2010... it's just absurd.
Official CrossFire support, including CrossFire in Windowed mode. If I'm running it at 20-30 frames per second at 1080p, windowed, with CrossFireX going I imagine I could crank up the mutliesampling and still get a boost in frames!
Hardware mouse support. SE has come out and said they're not too worried about hardware mouse support, instead leaving us with a laggy cursor that varies with your framerate. While they never said why, the theory is Japanese gamers tend to prefer gamepads. And so, much like CrossFire support, it's been the community who fixed it for them. In-ex-cusable.
Sometimes I wonder if the internet allows developers to be lazy, because they can rely on a dedicated fanbase to do their work for them. Kind've like how George Lucas could do whatever the heck he wanted to with the new Star Wars trilogy, because legions of fans would jump to his defense to argue the rationality of every single niggling little plothole.
Something I didn't notice initially that blows my mind, however: "Disable cutscene effects." I thought this had to do with effects during cutscenes, but apparently with it checked you're able to skip cutscenes. XI was so chock-full of self-important, rambling dialog, this is pretty good news! I'm honestly surprised SE is letting us skip over their always brilliant, poignant storylines, but again I give them props!
My initial attempts were windowed at 1080p. Starting off with a Radeon HD 5770 1 GB GDDR5, I was struggling at the highest settings, scoring a frame rate between high single digits and into the mid teens at best. The only way I could near a solid 30 frames per second was to put all the settings on the lowest. Even going fullscreen didn't seem to add more than a few FPS in total, although dropping to 720p earned several more digits.
I threw in a second 5770, only to learn CrossFire was not officially supported. This quick little fix from Voices of the Twelve was a significant help. At 1080p, fullscreen, with settings on almost the max (Ambient Occlusion and Multisampling turned off), I was rocking an FPS mostly in the high twenties up to the early forties.
I turned CrossFire off just to go back and compare, and with the same settings but in windowed mode I was pushing close to a constant 30fps in most areas, only dropped into the low twenties near camp.
Okay, now I'm just confused, because it was absolutely not running that well on one card when I first gave XIV a whirl several days ago. I'm not sure if I just did something without realizing it, or if it's because there seems to be significantly less people on now after the initial rush, or because SE made some genuine improvements over the past few days worth of updates. Heck, it might be a combination of the three, but I'm not complaining! Would be useful to know, though!
On a side note, it turns out my second 5770 has a core clock speed of 900Mhz, faster by 50 than my other one, so I need to get back inside the computer and swap them so the primary is the faster one. Whoops, guess I need to pay more attention to that sort of thing!
Issues I'd like to see addressed:
Stability. You can't tab out of fullscreen, or even open a window that requires Administrator permission if you're in windowed mode, without killing the game. XI's an old game, it's somewhat understandable. But Phantasy Star Universe came out in '06, and by then it was already inexcusable. Now we're in 2010... it's just absurd.
Official CrossFire support, including CrossFire in Windowed mode. If I'm running it at 20-30 frames per second at 1080p, windowed, with CrossFireX going I imagine I could crank up the mutliesampling and still get a boost in frames!
Hardware mouse support. SE has come out and said they're not too worried about hardware mouse support, instead leaving us with a laggy cursor that varies with your framerate. While they never said why, the theory is Japanese gamers tend to prefer gamepads. And so, much like CrossFire support, it's been the community who fixed it for them. In-ex-cusable.
Sometimes I wonder if the internet allows developers to be lazy, because they can rely on a dedicated fanbase to do their work for them. Kind've like how George Lucas could do whatever the heck he wanted to with the new Star Wars trilogy, because legions of fans would jump to his defense to argue the rationality of every single niggling little plothole.
Something I didn't notice initially that blows my mind, however: "Disable cutscene effects." I thought this had to do with effects during cutscenes, but apparently with it checked you're able to skip cutscenes. XI was so chock-full of self-important, rambling dialog, this is pretty good news! I'm honestly surprised SE is letting us skip over their always brilliant, poignant storylines, but again I give them props!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
